Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Causes of Earthquakes
There are basically three types: VOLCANIC
TECTONIC
COLLAPSE
(Also man-made due to nuclear explosions)
Tectonic Earthquakes
Most earthquakes occur at plate margins due to
tension, compression or shearing forces.
Rocks at plate margins are in constant motion
and are being pushed, pulled, bent, twisted and
folded.
Inevitably at some point they must break or
crack to produce FAULTS!!
[Note some rocks break much more easily
than others]
What is a Fault?
COMPRESSION
COMPRESSION causes rocks to fold and ultimately
break to produce a fault.
TENSION causes rocks to stretch and also break to
produce a fault.
Faulting also occurs in response to shearing stresses
Relationship of stresses
to types of faulting
Example of folded
rocks that have broken
to produce a fault
More terminology
Hanging wall is the block
above the fault plane.
Foot wall is the block below
the fault plane.
Foot wall
Hanging wall
Normal Faults
Two examples
of normal faults
Fault plane
Fault plane
Reverse Faults
Fault plane
A larger reverse
fault
Close-up of a reverse
fault plane.
Note the two completely
different rock-types.
Thrust Faults
Chief
Mountain
Older rocks
Fault plane
Younger rocks
Transform Faults
(Strike-Slip Faults)
10
11
Transform Faults
An example in a field
of lettuce.
An aerial view of a
much larger example.
12
13
14